WE SHOULD NOT ABDICATE RIGHT TO PROTECT CITIZENS

Re: 'Marc Emery deserved his punishment in prison' (Your Letters,
Daily News, Oct. 31)

After reading the piece from Conner Whelan of Ladysmith, I had to
think about what he was saying. The letter seems to ignore some very
important aspects of the case of Marc Emery, our very own Prince of
Pot and his extradition for selling cannabis seeds.

Mr. Whelan says that this is not about sovereignty but it certainly
is. When faced with the prospect of one of our citizens being claimed
by a foreign nation to face a standard of justice that is so greatly
different than our own, it is a matter of sovereignty to rightly
claim that our laws must take priority. Should our standard of
justice be insufficient to punish some one for a crime, it is up to
our lawmakers to change the standard. Applying a foreign standard of
justice to a citizen in and of our own land at the request of a
foreign power is an abdication of our sovereign jurisdiction over
citizenship and domestic law.

Mr. Whelan also mentions that compounding Mr Emery's fate was the
fact that he was open in flaunting American laws. Our voice is
suppose to be our own and if this should subject one to a harsher
standard of justice than those who keep their mouths shut, I would
dare our law makers to create a standard of justice that punishes
those who speak before those who do not. This is a terrible attempt
at justifying a punishment that should never have been undertaken.

Mr. Whelan also attempts to paint Emery as a coward hiding from
American justice officials claiming his rights of Canadian
citizenship. Seeking protection from the lawmakers sworn to protect
him, asking the domestic authorities take justice into their own
hands in their own realm and continuing to speak brazenly and without
apology for his convictions is far from cowardly. A coward would have
run, shut up and begged for forgiveness. It would be a coward who
would accept an unjust punishment in hope for a small bit of
leniency. Emery did not do this. Emery never backed down from his convictions.

Emery may not deserve admiration for some of his traits but I am
certainly not ready to call him a coward as Mr. Whelan so passively
managed to do. I am also not ready to abdicate our responsibility to
protect Canadian citizens from even our allies should our allies seek
something from us that is a blatantly different standard of justice
from our own.

Ethan Erkiletian

Saskatoon